#longtailofterrorism

[runway4]

“You Wanna Know Where Omar Mateen’s Hate Came From?”

Posted by an acquaintance from San Francisco, Alex B.:

"HEY HYPOCRITES! Stop pretending you care to make yourselves feel better.... You wanna know where Omar Mateen's hate came from? It was born and bred in America by politicians and good ole church folks, not overseas! 

2 weeks ago you were calling trans women child predators. 1 year ago you were saying that our marriages shouldn't be recognized. 6 years ago you were saying that gay men and women couldn't die for their country. 10 years ago you told us we didn't deserve job protections. 13 years ago it took Lawrence v. Texas to decriminalize our sex lives. 18 years ago you took Matthew Sheppard. 23 years ago you took Brandon Teena. 36 years the American Government began their 5 years of silence as millions of gay men were massacred by the AIDS virus. 43 years ago we were still considered mentally ill. 47 years ago the riots of Stonewall began. Over 100 years now this country has bred homophobia HATE into our history, our schools, and the very fabric of society. YES, the world we live in. Omar Mateen was the product of American hate... America (yes, any of you that have voted against us), you taught him this and even sold him the gun to do it."

[runway4]

The Long Tail of Terrorism

While I'm the first one to jump on the gun control bandwagon, there's no law that can overpower the hatred that results in the slaying of 50 innocent people. That cretin would have found a way to load himself with the guns and ammo to pull off his heighnous act, no matter what.

Everyone will say how deranged the killer must have been. True though that may be in the end, this is about religious fundamentalism and the culture that supports it.

We will still be gunned down and bombed out of our gathering places. We will still be thrown off cliffs and rooftops, blamed for hurricanes, denied marriage and adoption rights, beaten and kicked on the way home, or merely be told to pray to change into more acceptable and wholesome beings -- in the name of some god who's the real, true god.

If your religion gives you the license to go one step past the Golden Rule, you are part of the problem.

People have sent condolences to me about the tragedy in Orlando who -- love me though they may -- ascribe to the "truth" that I and my brethren are not fit to inherit "paradise" or the kingdom of heaven in our current, fallible state. I need your tears like I need gonorrhea.

The disapproval, the contempt, the lack of awareness or empathy, the willingness to obey some verses of your bible and ignore others, the vote for the hypocrite tapping his foot in the airport bathroom stall -- that's tantamount to having a loaded Uzi or a vest full of plastic explosives.

Is it really fair for me to compare the Orlando tragedy or flying a 767 into a skyscraper to other acts of self-rightrousness that are microscopic in comparison? Absolutely. To borrow a phrase from my content strategy bible, it's the long tail of terrorism.

I could have asked for no better supporter in my life than my father. When talking about pride parades and special days or months on the calendar to celebrate this race or that heritage, he longed for the time when we wouldn't need them. "The biggest right is to be left alone" he'd say. Truer words than ever.